Spring Has Sprung by Anonymous

Spring Has Sprung

by Anonymous

Spring has sprung,

The grass has riz,

I wonder where the birdies is.

They say the birdy's on the wing.

Ain't that absurd?

I thought the wing was on the bird!

My father used to say to say this little ditty every spring, and actually said it again the other day as we were driving.

No one knows who wrote it (no, it was not Ogden Nash, Spike Milligan, or e.e. cummings!)

Virginia Woolf, in A Room of One's Own, wrote, "I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman." (This quotation is often reworded as, For most of history, Anonymous was a woman. Stop Doing That.)

Was it some woman too full of self-doubt to sign her name? A bartender in Brooklyn, NY? A stage actor in Ireland forgetting his lines and doing a little improv? Queen Victoria? A sign painter in california? A mother entertaining her children?

Who knows? Although I wish we did, we can still all enjoy this silly little piece, and be thankful for all of the people--past, present, and future--who add whimsy and humor to our lives!